Visual Art for Liberation
Connecting incarcerated artists with opportunities to create, exhibit, and share their work while building pathways to professional creative careers.
Learn moreEmpowerment Avenue
Using Art, Journalism, Writing, and Film
to Create Opportunities for People in Prison
OUR
MISSION
Our mission is to normalize the inclusion of incarcerated writers, filmmakers and artists in mainstream venues by bridging the gap between them and harnessing this creative proximity as a path to de-carceration and public safety.
To achieve our mission we have a twofold strategy. We support the most talented writers and artists in prisons across the country, providing them the resources they need to get their creative work outside prison walls, be fairly compensated, and contribute their creativity to the movements of abolition, de-carceration, and liberation of incarcerated people.
Secondly, we support capacity building for publications, galleries, museums and other organizations committed to this work, to help them meaningfully center currently-incarcerated people in creative spaces while fairly compensating them.
Turning creativity into opportunity
Through art, writing, journalism, and film, we create pathways for incarcerated people to share their stories, develop their talents, and access meaningful opportunities. Explore our three programs that make this work possible.
Writing for Liberation
Supporting incarcerated writers through mentorship, publication opportunities, and professional pathways that bring their stories to wider audiences.
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Film for Liberation
Using documentary storytelling and film to amplify the voices of incarcerated people and inspire dialogue, understanding, and narrative change.
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Now at inStudio
The Distance Between:Traveling Beyond Count Time
The Distance Between: Traveling Beyond Count Time brings together stories told through the work of Black currently and formerly incarcerated artists. Their work traces histories of enslavement and confinement alongside the realities of incarceration today, while carrying memory, endurance, and imagination toward something beyond them. Together, these works invite us to explore the space between captivity and liberation, to see differently, and to imagine a world beyond systems of punishment.
The exhibition features Orlando O. Smith, whose work is also the focus of O. Smith: Artivist, a solo exhibition at SFMOMA, on view July 25, 2026–June 20, 2027.
Artists on view
- Markus Xcells
- Alvin Smith
- O. Smith
- M Seishin Cádiz
- Jennifer Rhodes
- Ray Williams
- Corey Devon Arthur
Experience more of Orlando’s work alongside artists from across the EA community at inStudio.
Ear Hustle Live! at SFMOMA brings the acclaimed podcast to the stage for a special evening inspired by Orlando O. Smith’s O. Smith: Artivist exhibition. Through storytelling, live music, and visuals, the performance explores experiences from inside and beyond prison.
When & Where: Sept 24th · SFMOMA
Learn More & Plan Your VisitJoin Orlando O. Smith, Emory Douglas, and Dread Scott for a conversation exploring art as a tool for resistance, political expression, and social change. Presented in connection with O. Smith: Artivist, the conversation brings together three artists whose work confronts systems of power and imagines possibilities beyond them.
When & Where: October 3rd · SFMOMA
Learn More & Plan Your VisitUpcoming events
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Our impact in 2025
Creating Real Change
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